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Joseph Bathanti
| birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Poet, novelist, professor | language = | alma_mater = University of Pittsburgh, BA | genre = | movement = | notableworks = | awards = North Carolina Poet Laureate | spouse = Joan | children = 2 }} Joseph Bathanti (born July 20, 1953) is an American poet, novelist and acaemic. He served as the 7th Poet laureate of North Carolina, 2012-2014. Life Youth and education Bathanti was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the East Liberty area of Pittsburgh. His grandparents were immigrants from Italy and France. His working-class family included a steelworker father and a seamstress mother. After graduating from Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, he attended California State College. In 1972, he transferred to the University of Pittsburgh and, in 1975, earned a B.A. in English. Career After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, Bathanti traveled to North Carolina in 1976 as part of the Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA) program focusing on prison outreach. He has continued to teach writing and hold workshops in prisons ever since. From 1985 to 1989, he worked closely with the North Carolina Visiting Artist Program which sought to bring talented artists from different disciplines to more rural towns and areas in the state. His book They Changed the State: The Legacy of North Carolina’s Visiting Artists, 1971-95 chronicled the history of the program. Bathanti is a professor of creative writing at Appalachian State University. Also at Appalachian State, he is Director of Writing in the Field as well as Writer-in-Residence for the Watauga Global Community. He also serves as a mentor in the Master of Fine Arts program at Carlow University in Pittsburgh. He was installed as the seventh North Carolina Poet Laureate on September 20, 2012, at a ceremony in Raleigh, North Carolina. Over the next two years he became an "ambassador of N.C. literature" and was free to create his own long-term projects. The position requires the laureate to participate in various literary activities across the state, working with "schools, community groups, and the press." Since his appointment, he has been a part of over 250 events around North Carolina. In 2014, Bathanti was named the first scholar-in-residence for the Heinz History Center's Italian American Program in Pittsburgh. Focusing on Italian American history, he will create a body of work developed from the center's Italian American Collection. Private life Bathanti lives in Vilas, North Carolina, with his wife, Joan, and two children. Bathanti and his wife met while both were working with the VISTA program. Recognition He was named by Governor Bev Perdue as the 7th North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2012–2014. Awards Bathanti has received many other awards and honors including: * The Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award (1995) * Oscar Arnold Young Award – The North Carolina Poetry Council (1997) * Carolina Novel Award – Banks Channel Books (2001) * Sherwood Anderson Award (2002) * Linda Flowers Literary Award – NC Humanities Council (2002) * Novello Literary Award (2006) * The Spokane Prize – Eastern Washington University * North Carolina Poet Laureate (2012–2014) * Ragan-Rubin Award – North Carolina English Teachers Association (2012) Publications Poetry * Communion Partners. Davidson, NC: Briarpatch Press, 1986. * Anson County. Greenville, NC: Williams & Simpson, 1989; Boone, NC: Parkway, 2005; Winston-Salem, NC: Press 53, 2015. * The Feast of All Saints. Troy, ME: Nightshade Press, 1994. * This Metal. Laurinburg, NC: St. Andrews College Press, 1996; Winston-Salem, NC: Press 53, 2012. * Land of Amnesia. Winston-Salem, NC: Press 53, 2009. * Restoring Sacred Art. Scottsdale, AZ: Star Cloud Press, 2010. * Concertina: Poems. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2013. *''Sonnets of the Cross''. Durham, NC: Jacar Press, 2013. Novels * East Liberty. Simpsonville, NC: Banks Channel Books, 2001. * Coventry. Charlotte, NC: Novello Festival Press, 2006. *''The Life of the World to Come: A novel''. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2014. Short fiction * The High Heart. Spokane, WA: Eastern Washington University Press, 2007. Non-fiction * They Changed the State: The legacy of North Carolina’s visiting artists, 1971-95. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Arts Council, 2007. *''Half of What I Say Is Meaningless''. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2014. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Joseph Bathanti, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 27, 2015. Audio / video *''Bathanti'' (DVD). Todd, NC: Tin Roof, 2013. See also *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"Jesus Meets the Women" *"The City Jail" ;Audio / video *Joseph Bathanti at YouTube ;About *Joseph Bathanti at North Carolina Humanities Council * Profile at NCpedia *Bathanti, Joseph at Pennsylvania Center for the Book *Joseph Bathanti Official website. Category:Poets Laureate of North Carolina Category:Writers from North Carolina Category:People from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Poets from Pennsylvania Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:University of Pittsburgh alumni Category:Appalachian State University faculty